Fast broad band , do I need such a fast one ?

18Nov09

Recently there were a slew of announcements from our internet providers. There were claims that by 2010 1.2 million of Malaysian household and business premises will be part of the advanced national communications infrastructure and we all have very fast broadband services.

There has since been a disclaimer –the fast broadband will be made available in stages, initially covering Klang Valley, Putra Jaya and the Industrial areas. There is no mention as to when would very fast broad band would be made available in Sarawak and Sabah.

The new broad band will be very fast ? As someone said “The lucky ones will see their connection speeds zoom up to between 10Mbps (megabits per second) and 1Gbps (gigabit per second).

And how fast is that ? Apparently, one will be able to download a full-length movie in two minutes, so being able to watch a YouTube video clip smoothly should be a cinch.”

I am a small business operator. I use the internet for simple tasks such as sending and receiving emails to and from my customers and suppliers. Not that many . I used the internet to read online newspapers and read articles of interest. Now that I am on blogging I would visit WordPress.Com and Twitter.com. I don’t play computer games, nor do I down load movies (it would set a bad example for my staff). You could say that I am a low user.

Yes, I am a low users and most small business are too.

Do we need fast broadband as fast as 10 Mbs? No I don’t.

What do I need ?

1. Having to pay less for my internet services —say from a $100 to $50 .
2. A more reliable service. I don’t mind the present speed –even though it is just a few hundred KbS . However the problem is that its service can be quite inconsistent during peak house –and especially when you need to send/receive something urgently –it takes hours to send and receive .
3. Faster respond time. Streamyx hot line is good when giving advice on technical problem . But sometime can be very evasive . Once my line was down for two weeks and each time I complained I was lead on a merry- go- round. It could be the fault is beyond Streamyx , but at least tell me , which they did finally .
4. Those I sent my email too may I ask, have the courtesy to reply as soon as possible . Sometime they don’t even read it , try to imagine them replying . They can reply if they want to . It is just they are not discipline to do so .
5. That there should be more users of the internet among the small business operators so that I could do more of my business on line . I might even set up a website . We need a critical mass to make our effort worthwhile .

6. That the Internet operator tells us how can we use the internet to improve our business , be more efficient , cut cost , be more customer friendly and make more money .

What would the other small business operators think about this ? Give me your thoughts .